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Has to be a big disappointment that the field only has one Ryder Cup player, Thomas Bjorn. Now four European Ryder Cup players, Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer are playing at the Tour Championship, but that still leaves seven others that could of teed up here and didn’t.

One person in the field is Simon Dyson, who has won the title three times including the last time that the KLM was played at Kennemar in 2009. Dyson’s KLM win in 2011 was his last, he has struggle since as his best finish was 5th at the French Open three months ago. Since then in five starts have finished T28th Johnnie Walker, his worst finish as he was T12th at the Scottish Open, 9th at the Russian Open, T18th at the Wales Open and T22nd last week at the Omega European Masters.

A number of Dutch players are in the field, but the one with the best shot is defending champion Joost Luiten. He came close to winning this title in 2007 at Kennemer when he finished 2nd to Ross Fisher, he also finished 6th in 2011. Despite not winning 2014 has been a success for Luiten with five top-tens, including a pair of third place finishes at the Volvo Golf Champions and Lyoness Open. In his last start at the Italian Open he was T-4th.

One person in perfect form is American Brooks Koepka who was a shot out of the playoff last week in Switzerland. Koepka has come close to winning on the European Tour and this could be the week. Another American in the field is Peter Uihlein, who has been in a free fall this year after a strong 2013. Many feel that despite the slump, Kennemer suits Uihlein who won at Madeira last year. After not playing 72 holes in 13 of 14 events, Uihlein seems to have gotten things under control with a T-78th at Made in Denmark, T-19th at Czech Masters and T-36th at Omega European Masters. So maybe he will be worth a look at this week.

What about Kennemer Golf & Country Club:

The course is located in Zandvoort, a popular Dutch seaside town about 30 miles outside of Amsterdam. This is a gem of a course, a links course that was founded in 1910. The original nine was moved to it’s present location in 1927 when Harry Colt laid out a 18 hole course in towering dunes. In 1985 Frank Pennink was hired to add another nine holes and today Kennemer is 27 links holes in which a composite course is used for the tournament.

Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at the KLM Open:

So look for a player that will be able to drive it in the fairway and be able to bump and run it on the green. Now with the course being a links nature that means slow, flat greens so those that aren’t great putters have a bit of a edge.

Here are some more key stats to look to for this week:

So what does Simon Dyson, Darren Clarke and Ross Fisher have in common? They have won four of the last five KLM’s played at Kennemer and they are all from Great Britain who learned to play their golf on seaside courses. So look for someone that does have lots of links experience as a player that will do well this week.

One interesting thing of the last five winners, they all played the best on the par 5s, last year Luiten was six under on them. So that shows that overpowering holes is needed to win.

There are six events left before the four tournament playoff series so this will be a perfect week for many to pick up more race to Dubai money.

The weather will play a part so look for a player that does well in the wind to win this week. Also length will help with soft fairways so the winner will be above average in hitting it long.